But yeah, I agree. Which is why I tend to ignore E3. Well for the most part anyway, the trailers are still fun to watch.

What people seem to not realize is that E3 is a trade show (or trade fair/expo). As in an exhibition organized so that companies in a specific industry can showcase and demonstrate their latest products, service, study activities of rivals and examine recent market trends and opportunities.

Which means, essentially, that its not for gamers.

Plus, according to the official FAQ, the show isn't open to the general public, only to those in the industry.

I agree with the writer that if BioWare really feels like they have a revolution in online gaming in the works with Kotor, let's start to see it. When's the game coming out? That said, if anyone's going to be able to do it, it's BioWare. And the Star Wars license has a huge enough audience to make the game an instant commercial success. Could be peanut butter and chocolate, could be nuts and gum.

But yeah, I agree. Which is why I tend to ignore E3. Well for the most part anyway, the trailers are still fun to watch.

What people seem to not realize is that E3 is a trade show (or trade fair/expo). As in an exhibition organized so that companies in a specific industry can showcase and demonstrate their latest products, service, study activities of rivals and examine recent market trends and opportunities.

Which means, essentially, that its not for gamers.

Plus, according to the official FAQ, the show isn't open to the general public, only to those in the industry.

And besides, we have plenty other conventions for games and gamers.

That might have been how it started but it is for gamers now. Obviously they can't physically be there, but with the amount of coverage by gaming media gamers are watching the vast majority of E3 and publishers react accordingly. E3 is the main media event of the gaming year for both the industry and consumers.

OT: I think the comments about TOR are a bit unfair considering the amount of gameplay footage shown both this year and at last year's E3. That said they really didn't reveal that much considering that this is the last E3 before the game ships.

I do find it amusing you chose to include XCOM. I don't think anyone really had any joy to begin with there.

But yeah, I agree. Which is why I tend to ignore E3. Well for the most part anyway, the trailers are still fun to watch.

What people seem to not realize is that E3 is a trade show (or trade fair/expo). As in an exhibition organized so that companies in a specific industry can showcase and demonstrate their latest products, service, study activities of rivals and examine recent market trends and opportunities.

Which means, essentially, that its not for gamers.

Plus, according to the official FAQ, the show isn't open to the general public, only to those in the industry.

And besides, we have plenty other conventions for games and gamers.

That might have been how it started but it is for gamers now. Obviously they can't physically be there, but with the amount of coverage by gaming media gamers are watching the vast majority of E3 and publishers react accordingly. E3 is the main media event of the gaming year for both the industry and consumers.

Its so widely covered now because they realized lots of gamers tuned in to see what it was about, so they decided to also use it to overhype the products.

I honestly don't know why everyone seems to hold it in such high regard. But everyone does, so the big players use it to their advantage.

I still can't figure out how In Game Movement works with Kinect, every single game they've shown so far has either been "On Rails" or a "In Game Movement Not Required" style of game. How am I supposed to play your standard action game or an open world game etc. with Kinect? As well, you need to stand to play ALL THE TIME. Yes gamers need to be more active, yes games should help with that but SOME(i.e. most) people play games to relax.

How is the Kinect rumoured to be so expensive, how could it be that expensive to manufacture? It's just two regular ol 640x480 30fps webcams put together, seems to me you could easily sell it at 50$ or not?

Not G. Ivingname:Odd, you didn't take one jab at the 3DS, games going to be on Nintendo consoles, or anything related to Nintendo. You leaving stuff for Yahtzee or do you have no problem with anything they have done?

Actually, I wouldn't be surprised if he doesn't have any problem with Nintendo. The 3DS is capitalizing on the 3D gimmick, yes, but it doesn't require those stupid glasses. Other than that, they pretty much just unloaded a ton of awesome games on us. I guess you could criticize the lack of actual gameplay, but the trailers at least show in game stuff.

Not only is there SW:TOR gameplay footage out there, there's a fuckton of SW:TOR gameplay footage out there. In 2009 already BioWare released a 20 minute walkthrough through the game showing off Bounty Hunter, Smuggler and Sith Warrior gameplay, an instanced fight, outdoor combat, the dialogue system, heck almost everything except PvP. Here's part 1 of it, goes all the way through to 4:

Enjoy. And since then there has been even more footage released, like showing off the Sith Inquisitor a bit and the Republic Trooper. Just a quick Youtube search reveals that.

Neither is AC2: Brotherhood completely multi-player, as was also reported for quite some time already. They even showed it on this E3:

After several years self-defensive posturing from PS3 fans about how hardcore and powerful their system is, we've got Sackboy, ModNation Racers, Joe Danger, and a Wiimote with a ping-pong ball on the end. After defending their platform as the choice for real men, Sony has showed up to the party dressed in drag.

Not G. Ivingname:Odd, you didn't take one jab at the 3DS, games going to be on Nintendo consoles, or anything related to Nintendo. You leaving stuff for Yahtzee or do you have no problem with anything they have done?

Actually, I wouldn't be surprised if he doesn't have any problem with Nintendo. The 3DS is capitalizing on the 3D gimmick, yes, but it doesn't require those stupid glasses. Other than that, they pretty much just unloaded a ton of awesome games on us. I guess you could criticize the lack of actual gameplay, but the trailers at least show in game stuff.

What has the 3DS actually got to offer though? MGS3, which we've played, Zelda, which we've played, Star Fox 64, which we've played. Or is that the point of it? A handheld console to play things you probably already own, or have owned, at some point in your life on the move? Kid Icarus is the only thing I've heard is a new game and not a remake. Besides the games, it's just ripped the analogue stick from a PSP and the motion from an iPhone and crammed them onto the DS design.

Even so, I get the feeling that they're figuring everything out as they're going along.

It's Bioware; something tells me they've got a tad more knowledge on how to go about things.

AND I've seen plenty of TOR gameplay videos - there was combat gameplay on the front page of x-play from this year's E3. AND they gave footage at last year's E3 too, AND there's been general footage of the classes and gameplay in-between the two events.

Also:

"Ubi Marketbot: You know, people really, really hated our DRM system that made them log in and play their single-player game online.

Ubi Exec: Oh? Maybe they were pirates.

Ubi Marketbot: No, I mean people who bought the game. They don't want to go online for single-player. Maybe we should change that?

Ubi Exec: Good idea. Make the whole game multiplayer."

The whole game's not mutliplayer at all, but this did still bring a smile to my face.

Even so, it feels like you've missed a bit of basic research on those 2 points.

Jesus. Apparently it's a cardinal sin to criticize Bioware. Personally I'm sick of the company, as they seem to be a one-trick pony. Sure, plenty of other companies produce just one genre of game, but all of Bioware's RPG's have the same selling points and flaws: Great writing and "role playing," but ultimately uninspired and bland gameplay.

wow, even shamus doesn't have anything to say about nintendo's press conference of "hai gaiz heres everything you wanted; lets not mention the casual bullshit, cause your not here for that; oh and here try out the 3DS it actually works." in an interesting turn of events, the nintendo press conference was the only one that didn't make me depressed.

I don't understand why Sony and Microsoft are getting in to motion controls, I think the market would have pretty much panned out by now. With all the core gamers staying away from motion controls, and everyone else already owning a Wii.

Unless they can somehow turn the core crowd back on to motion gaming I can only assume that both peripherals will flop.

X-Com... 50 style game based around alien invasion? Sounds familiar. I can't wait for the obligatory zapper and gravity gun.

I also choked reading that Ubisoft bit. Teach me to try and drink and read.

Shamus Young:After defending their platform as the choice for real men, Sony has showed up to the party dressed in drag.

Sony always came off as the type of bad wife in the marriage. Sure starting out everything was great, a little more expensive than some other floozyconsoles, but still an enjoyable time. But now the honeymoon has passed and Sony is revealed to be more nagging that originally expected. First she starts taking away some of your old hobbies, then the predictable weight crisis, and now the rampant jealousy and impersonation of someone she thought she saw you gawk at.

It's invigorating to see how many sequels are being hyped as opposed to original games.

I'm with Shamus on the motion controls. I'm not against them, but they definitely have a time and a place. Playing Resident Evil on the DS with an added first person Knife Fight Mode just to utilize the stylus was a real motivation killer.

I just beat DAO and thought the world of Bioware. I considered getting Mass Effect, but rationalized that I don't like outer-space much. So I was skeptical when I saw these articles about their claims for the new Star Wars MMO. Then I beat DAO-A, and realized that in the end they're a company and have to make money. Releasing [unnecessary] sequels that don't stack up, or making claims about an MMO that's failed once already (Star Wars Galaxies) are part of the business.

Maybe it's just me, but has there EVER been a good star wars video game? I guess the "Super -fill in the title-" games were solid, back on the SNES, but since then I've been 100% content in hindsight to steer clear of any Star Wars game.